Transcript of RNIB President's Reception video

Josephine Job: I'm Josephine Job and I am Head of Major Donor and Corporate Fundraising at RNIB.

We are delighted to be here this evening at the Dorchester to celebrate twenty five years of the Duke of Westminster as President and to welcome Dame Gail Ronson as our new President.

Dame Gail Ronson: I have been involved with RNIB for some years now, helping on the Gala Committee, but it is only recently that I have seen many examples of RNIB's wonderful resources. I am full of praise for the commitment and dedication of all of RNIB's professional and volunteer teams. It makes me very proud to have been asked to be part of this very important charity.

Lesley-Anne Alexander: I'm Lesley-Anne Alexander and I'm RNIB's Chief Executive. Dame Gail is vibrant, energetic, exciting. She knows hundreds and hundreds of influential people so I'm really optimistic that we have a very bright future with Gail.

Josephine Job: Kevin Carey is RNIB Chairman

Kevin Carey: In these hard times we are already beating the benchmarks in the sector and we want to go on doing that. As times get more difficult for our blind and partially sighted people, as more of them call for our services, we will need more of your goodwill.

It's absolutely important that people have the opportunity to tell their story. I said earlier that we are an organisation 'of' blind and partially sighted people and we would never dream of talking about blind people's experiences without actually talking to real people themselves.

Ladies and gentleman; please welcome Kate Crofts.

Kate Crofts: I can feel the different policies, the different services, the different accessibilities, opportunities that are there for me and that only exists because of organisations like RNIB who are the backbone of the diversity and equality we experience in the UK today.

Mrs Munshi: My name is Zaibe Munshi and this is Sam Munshi.

Dr Munshi: We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and we fully support RNIB. We are contributors on an Ambassador basis; we have been for the last seven years and we will hopefully continue to do so as long as we live.

Josephine Job: We are excited as we enter the planning stage of our next five year strategy and it's excellent that Dame Gail has come onboard as President at this very exciting time.

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